My Mother’s Doll
by Badger94
Summary: "She had been cursed to die, but he had found a way to preserve her. His obsession had terrorized her for a millennium - and she had tortured men who looked too hard into her stone eyes, with a love they could never have. For she would never be their's to have, only their's to stare at. But he had not preserved her without a way for him to reclaim her." Itachi told his brother.


**The ReWrite:**

**Chapter One**

**Ashes, Ashes, Bones and Ashes**

The war against Mist has been substantial. Not so much in the prosperity of adding to the Land of Fire for the Daimyo, so much as uniting clans in a way that hadn't been done before. Not in a millennia, at least, Itachi pondered. His horses hooves clapped the ground soothingly, he admired the gloss of his older black gelding, scars marred his body. Not unusual for war horses, but the pacifist within him, seethed at it nonetheless.

Raki has been his first horse, a terrifyingly large warhorse. Black as onyx, with soulfully alert eyes. The horse was human in personality, Itachi felt. Taking a spear through his haunches once in defense of Itachi, who had taken a hit to the head. Raki stood on guard for two nights waiting for a squad to find them. Fending off Sage knows what. Itachi patted his thick neck, he was his friend.

He hadn't been home in two years, having been sent with the a portion of his father's army to Mist to lead a full frontal assault with a portion of Hyuga and Senju. The Uchiha compound wasn't far, he could hear the distant hum of vitality. Konoha itself was a beautiful master piece of United clans. Culturally diverse in its traditions, architecture and people.

"I'm glad it's over," a deep voice jilted Itachi from his internal thoughts. The white of a larger, white mare trotted next to him. Itachi smiles ruefully at his older cousin, Shisui. "I heard your baby brother is betrothed to a Uzumaki." He added moments later. Itachi nodded, not one for gossip. Shisui, for the talent and fortitude he had on the battle field was disturbingly too emerged in other people's business.

He smiled, and smoothed his onyx black hair, glancing again at his cousin, who was three years his senior. Shisui was taller, broader and not as fine boned as most Uchiha were. That didn't seem to deter any of the women. Unusually curly, thick ebony black hair fell over remarkably cat like eyes that were the same shade of black as his hair.

"Why're you so nosy?" Itachi finally remarked, Shisui made a sour face, his tan cheeks turning a funny shade of pink.

"I am not! I'm well informed, cousin." Shisui blanched.

"Sounds more like nosy." Came a velvety voice, Itachi didn't bother to hide his smirk when Shisui turned to yell at Neji Hyuga and promptly fell of his horse. The snow colored mare snorted as if she found her masters tumble humorous took. She didn't even bother to wait, just trotted off and away, tail flicking. Shisui scrambles after her while shooting insults at the Hyuga who had urged his bay gelding adjacent to Itachi's.

"He's a strange man." Neji surmised.

"You wouldn't think he was as talented as he is," Itachi added, his tone indicating affectionate familial humor. Neji nodded, chocolate hair styled similar to his own, was without imperfection against the gentle summer breeze. Neji was a stiff man, but occasionally made rather amusing observations and had a niche for underhanded comments that not many people caught on to. He and Itachi had a comfortable, amicable, relationship.

"Thank you for allowing the Hyuga hospitality before we head home."

"Can't very well allow comrades to be sent home without a banquet." Itachi states smoothly. The vague shape of the Uchiha homes were glimmering not far away.

_Help me.._

The feminine voice sent a cold wave of shock up his spine. It was like a snake slithering down his vertebrae. He hadn't thought of her.. in how long? He chewed his lower lip, a sudden veil of anxiety claiming him. Neji cocked a well shaped brow at him, opal colored eyes showing mild curiosity.

"Seems like the Uchiha are preparing for the Uzumaki-Uchiha marriage." He wasn't wrong, and Itachi took a moment to admire the grand setup. People bustled in and out of shops, not too concerned with the giant war party returning. They'd known the war was over months ago, now it was time for a different sort of cheer. Children littered the open areas, playing war and socializing. It brought a warm feeling in his gut. This was peace.

Having the Uzumaki line added to the Uchiha would surely help strengthen alliance and the bloodline. Itachi directed Neji to where he needed to go, and extended an invite to him and a few other high ranking Hyuga to the banquet that was surely to be held for their return. It wasn't long before the Hyuga left to make way for their own compound, a few miles away.

Mikoto clung to her eldest son, admiring the height the twenty-three-old has gained in the last two years. She was still fine boned, with the faintest of wrinkles gracing her features. Her long dark hair had a few strands of silver, her obsidian eyes glimmering with joy, relief and pride. Fugaku stood back, dark brown hair ashen from age, his deeply tanned skin more aged than Itachi remembered.

"Oh, Itachi!" Mikoto sighed hands leaving his face. Sasuke emerged from the doorway, tomato in hand and smirk gracing his face. The moment was promptly ruined as Shisui and his mare galloped down the streets, the mare was riderless and Shisui was yelling.

"How is he still alive?" Sasuke deadpanned, glancing worriedly at Fugaku who had put a handover his face almost as if he had a hangover.

"He's different in the field." He reasoned, Itachi merely shrugged.

"Not really." Sasuke snorted and gave his brother a warm hug, "I hear you're to be married to Uzumaki Karin." Itachi stated in his velvet voice. Sasuke stiffened, ears turning pink.

"Well, yeah, it's not - uh - a big deal." Stammering wasn't characteristic of Sasuke, and their mother giggled. Sasuke must've liked her if he was that nervous. Funny, considering how much of a heartthrob he was in the village. Mikoto patted Sasuke's still round cheeks. The eighteen year old had a ways to go before he was entirely masculine in the face. Still lean with muscle, and his shoulder still broadening.

"He's smitten with her, I haven't met a girl quite as - eh - loud as her."

It was Fugaku's turn to snort.

Itachi hadn't realized how badly he had missed all this. This was home. Even with Shisui running around like a chicken with its head cut off. Well, he guessed that made it more of a home.

The voice was getting louder, Itachi had avoided seeing her, but the temptation would become too strong. Hyuga Neji sat to his left, and casually eyeballed Itachi I'm vague worry. Shisui was busy chatting it up with a female Hyuga warrior, Natsu. Who seemed absolutely disgusted by his obvious flirting. The banquet included some of the Uzumaki, the clan head Uzumaki Kushina, her husband (a non Uzumaki) Minato, their son Naruto (who had nearly grown up here), Karin (his second cousin), and a few others that didn't seem quite important. Several Senju were seated, the clan head and notorious healing-warrior Tsunade among them.

Please... someone... help... me...

The voice was beautiful - enchanting - and it echoed in his skull painfully. He winced every time her voice invaded his mind. He glanced around stoically with ebony eyes, wondering if anyone - anyone - could hear her too.

Shutting tired eyes, he was instantly presented with her doll face. Ivory skin, giant jade eyes, button nosed and full red lips. But the most startling part? Soft, cotton candy pink hair, intricately braided into a crown, while the rest flowed down her back in bouncy, summer curls.

His eyes snapped open.

His demeanor was becoming harder to control.

_PLEASE_!

The voice had started when he was eight. It had drawn him to her. He glanced around the banquet hall, dark marble flooring, tall pillars and various Uchiha symbols everywhere. He eyed the color of the somber navy walls, anything to detract from that haunting beautiful voice.

"Uchiha-sama, your son is quite the man on a battle field.. even Shisui." Neji spoke with praise. Fugaku nearly preened, Itachi offered a small smile. War stories began, and the story of Shisui taking down one-hundred troops single handed brought on a mild roasting. Shisui ended up red faced and scowling.

Itachi eventually excused himself as dusk set and clan members trickled out. Hiashi and Fugaku had retreated to Fugaku's massive office to discuss clan affairs, and Sasuke retreated to help Mikoto and the maids clean. Before he knew it, he was face-to-face with her.

Itachi stared at the doll, like he did every night before he strolled into his room to sleep the night away, and start a new day - tonight was different, he had left her alone for two years, and he felt oddly guilty about that. The doll had been his obsession for such a long time, he felt as if it were a part of him. His eyes stared at the eyes made of smoothed, green jade rock, with onyx fused in as the pupil. The entire doll must've been worth a fortune, she was hardly a foot in height. With a lean body, wide hips and soft, plump lips painted a dark coral color. But, it was odd, while in Mist.. he hadn't thought of her. His brows furrowed together as he examined the doll more closely.

Cocking his head, admiring her pink hair - made of something he never could figure out - it was piled behind her shoulders in delicate curls, while a band made of diamonds and green jade shaped in leaves, pushed her wild hair back, leaving a few well placed strands over her forehead. Her face was carved from ivory, and she had the most well-defined face he'd ever laid eyes. High cheekbones, a delicate nose that curved gently and large, round eyes - he squinted - with long, thick pink lashes.

The detail put into her was astounding.

He sighed, and admired her outfit. Very Mediterranean in it's appearance, yet elegant. She wore a turquoise green dress, with only one sleeve. The sleeve was skin tight with silver edges. Her right arm was all but bare, except for a stylized silver snake, that twisted and turned around her toned arm, it started from her shoulder and went to her wrist, it's defined face fell on top of her hand, it's ruby eyes gleaming mischievously. A belt made of opal, emerald, ruby, tanzanite, amethyst, diamond and several other gems he felt to exhausted to name, sat around her petite waist and seemed to make her wide hips more noticeable. The belt made the skirt of her dress seem more gown-like. A glimmer of feet was visible through the long skirt, and the sandals were silver and styled in a Gladiator fashion.

Itachi touched her nose with the tip of his finger, and then brushed the hair from her forehead-she had such a huge forehead. His eyes fell on something that had never been there before. A dark, plum purple colored rhombus. Where had that even -

"Big Brother, are you okay?" Itachi, startled, turned and faced his younger brother. Sasuke stood two inches shorter than Itachi - who was barely six-feet in height himself. Sasuke's alabaster white skin was a sharp contrast from his black hair, which was hued blue in the right light.

Sasuke's lanky form was peering from the top of the stairs. Itachi sighed,

"Oh.. ah, yes... just exhausted.. Sasuke." He licked his lips, his mouth suddenly felt dry. A small whisper tickle the back of his neck.

_Please... don't... leave... _

It chilled his bones, her voice.. it was so pained, so sorrowful so -

"Why are you always eyeing that doll?" Sasuke asked, it wasn't rude or mean, just honest curiosity. Itachi was a little perplexed that it had taken this long for anyone to even ask him that. "I remember you doing this before you left, too."

"It is a dreadful habit that I have not been able to shake from childhood." Itachi half-smiled, "I doubt that I'll rid myself of this habit anytime soon, anyway."

"Why are you so intrigued by a doll?" Sasuke asked, truly interested. Itachi heard Sasuke's soft footsteps as his younger brother crept beside him, eyeing the doll with such... such ignorance. Itachi felt sickened to see someone eye her as if she were just a doll.

But, that is what she is... She isn't even a she, really... Itachi thought, he eyed his brother as Sasuke continued to eye the gir- no, the doll.

"Mother used to me stories about the doll, and how she was secretly our ancestor's, Madara Uchiha, beloved but she was being faught over and in the end cursed to live as a doll until she found love again."

"How old would that make the doll?" Asked Sasuke, and Itachi rolled his eyes, Of course he'd ignore the best part of the story...and did he even pay attention during history?

"One-thousand years old, little brother." Itachi answered in a monotone voice.

"Well, tell me the story."

"Sasuke, there were many stories."

"Well, condense them."

"You cannot condense the beauty of her life."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow at his brother, truly perturbed by his brother's admiration for this doll. Crossing his arms, "Well, summarize." He even pulled the little brother pout. Itachi felt manipulated.

"Ah, I can try." Itachi whispered, he touched the doll's cheek and regarded her with loving eyes, and for a split second Sasuke thought her eyes met his brother's. Sasuke shook his head, denying such witchcraft.

"Her name is Haruno, Sakura." Itachi began, he smiled at his brother, "First let us go get a midnight snack... " and as the two brothers made their way to the kitchen, Itachi spoke again. Hoping his voice would drown out that sad, sad whisper. "A fitting name for a girl born in the spring and adorned with hair as pink as the blossoming petals upon a cherry tree, her parents had said, when they explained her name to all those who met her." Sasuke leaned backwards and into a column, truly curious at this point. Watching his brother pull things from a cabinet. "But it was our ancestor who doomed them from the start... at seventeen he destroyed a once powerful village called Aomori..."

"Ah, smell that?" Cackled a man who towered over the rest, his hair was the color of spilled ink and fell to his waist in characteristic spikes, and uneven edges. The small platoon of men all roared excitedly, "That is the smell of power." his eyes bled red, filled with rage and lust. Lust for the power that danced at the edges of his sanity. They nodded, eagerly soaking up the words that fell from the mouth of their heir - of their prodigy. They craved him. "This village fell to us, an entire village fell to a mere dozen men! Now it burns. Now it knows that they are nothing to the might of the Uchiha!" he bellowed, his tan face began turning shades of red. His veins popping from the adrenaline still sprinting through his body.

The men hooted, hollered and roared.

They had destroyed one of the greatest villages of the Warring Era, a huge hit to the Senju who relied on Aomori for trade goods, and medicine. Now it was gone, leaving the Senju more vulnerable than ever before.

"Uchiha scum." it was a quiet hiss, that felt like it was being spoken down their very necks.

The men rigidly gripped their katanas, and tantos. Eyes scanning the foggy scene before them. Everyone was dead. The infants, the children, the women, the elderly, the men, the boys. All mutilated, some raped, some dismembered, some burned alive. The stench became increasingly stronger, and before they knew it the voice returned.

"UCHIHA SCUM!" it roared and the ground trembled beneath that voice, from where it came no one knew, not even the proud Uchiha who stood before the town that would soon become just ashes and bones. "YOU BURN THE INNOCENT! YOU RAPE THE WEAK! YOU KILLED THEM ALL!" it screeched and the men fell to their knees, bodies shaking violently, foaming at the mouth. The fog suddenly felt heavier. "SCUM! SCUUUM!"

What looked like explosion went off, sending a wave of dust and air out in spherical manner. The platoon shrieked, covering their faces to stop the dust and blood from caking their faces. A loud shrieking filled their ears, and blood began to rise from the ground, a fog began filling the air between one man and another.

But the Uchiha heir would have none of that. He narrowed those powerful, revered - feared - red eyes and the fog began to melt away. He turned his body and he found the source. It did not strike fear in him - and maybe it should have. Oh, it definitely should have. For she was not hideous, nor was she beautiful. She was just she. She was there, standing not frail, but not strong. Her shoulders crooked, her back hunched and her face blank. But, her eyes - oh her eyes - they bled with tears. Her face was streaked with red, her face oh so stoic. But Madara, for that was his name, was not scared. He did not tremble in front of the weak.

All were weak to him, and he straightened himself at that. "You dare challenge me? You think your little tricks will scare me? Ha!"

"I do not intend to scare you, Mad-Ar-Ra." She spoke his names in parts, and that made the hair on his body erect. It was eerie, unnatural. "I intend to let you live, for not I could kill you. Only one can do that." she spoke quietly, but it was loud. As if the atmosphere carried her voice boldly compared to anyone else that walked this war stricken earth. "You have a dark soul, tainted it was - and that is no fault of yours - your clan has a long history of madness, insanity and evil." Uchiha Madara gritted his teeth, and lunged for her body she dissipated, his hands went straight through her.

But even then he felt no fear. Just a rage that built within him like a typhoon over an open sea.

"You think that I am mortal? For I am not." the woman spoke, her voice suddenly sound distorted, like a thousand whispers. His men collapsed, fear etched into their faces.

But he felt no fear. He was Uchiha Madara. A powerful force that no one could strike down.

The woman grinned, showing off a toothless smile. Madara glared and straightened himself.

"Madara you will catch me - soon - but I will warn you, once and only once. For I will not beg on the death I foresee, I will not cry for mercy upon the death I foresee." her voice became shrill, panicked and it still sounded as if a thousand whispers were uttering at once, only milliseconds faster than another. It made his ears ache, and he lunged for her again. This time his large hand encased her neck.

She only grinned wider, and it irked him - she should be begging! "I will curse you, Uchiha Madara. You will kill me, I foresee this, and I will curse you." Madara snickered, at least she was sensible - but something was churning within his gut.

_Fear?_

His heart raced, and he frowned.

No! _NO! _He was to be feared! Not this... this witch! He tightened his grip on her neck, he felt her bones begin to crack. But no sound of pain fell from those thin, ugly lips. Just that wicked, toothless smile.

"YOU WILL KILL ME!" She screeched and he tightened his grip again, her neck snapped, but she still stared at him and he dropped her. Frightened. "AND I WILL CURSE YOU!" She shouldn't have gotten those words out!

Frightened.

_Panic_, that's what filled his body, he needed to kill her. His body trembled, sweat ran profusely down his face and body. He gripped her neck harder. Harder. But her voice was still unhindered, she shouldn't be able to speak, yet she screamed.

"YOU WILL KILL ME, UCHIHA SCUM!" She cackled, she was laughing - she should be limp! The bodies of his men began to burn, and their screams haunted his mind - they were dying? He turned to look at them, their flesh falling from their face's like melted wax. "I WILL TAKE YOUR MEN THAT YOU CARE NAUGHT FOR! BUT WHAT ELSE SHALL I TAKE?"

Suddenly she was behind him, her neck completely bent to the left, her eyes wide open. Those eyes had no life in them - they were dead. He couldn't remember killing her or letting her neck go.

_Fear. Panic. Fear. Panic._

"What else shall I take?" she whispered hauntingly. Her body turned to smoke and it whisked around him like the breath of summer stuck in winter. Foggy and quick to fade.

"I shall take the love of your life... which you will find, and it will be wondrous, she will be the queen on your chessboard..." she laughed, insanity must have taken her. It must have taken him, for he knew naught of curses, he knew naught of love. "But the queen must die to protect her king." He trembled violently, true fear encasing his body like a heart-attack.

The entity laughed, and laughed, and laughed. It cackled, it snickered, it snorted.

And it drove him to madness, he screamed and swiped out at the air before him. Blind rage controlling him.

Then for the last time that day... for years, it spoke one last time.

"Uchiha Scum. I will not forget you."

**A/N: I decided to re-write this, and I apologize profusely for the long delay. My son died in 2016, and my daughter in 2018. So a lot has stumped my ability to write. You should expect regular monthly updates, maybe more if I'm motivated. You may notice not much changed, but I did change a number of things. The direction of this story is taking a slightly different path. Please review and follow!**


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